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Police investigate noose hanging from Berkeley High School tree

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Berkeley police investigated a noose hanging from a tree at Berkeley High School after a school safety officer discovered it last week.

In a Wednesday letter to parents and guardians, Vice Principal Jorge Melgoza said the incident is being treated as a hate crime and apologized on behalf of the administration for not notifying the community earlier.

No suspects have been detained by Berkeley Police Department officers or administrators, and there was no video footage of the incident. Melgoza said no student reported seeing the noose prior to its removal.

“This act of hate has never, and will never, be tolerated on this campus,” Melgoza said in the letter. “This incident is a clear and stark reminder that racism is alive and well in this country and we as educators are the ones best suited to combat this ignorance.”

The noose was removed as soon as it was discovered and appears to be an isolated case, Melgoza said.

In response to the incident, the high school’s administration planned a schoolwide assembly and provided teachers with “culturally relevant materials and resources,” according to the letter.

YEA !!
Punish Everyone for the actions of a couple of Jerks !!
Makes Sense.

Strykr32

BHS Administration should can the assembly and all the rest; it will only serve to ramp up tensions. According to Melgoza, no students saw it so why now inform everyone of it; isn’t that exactly the publicity the perpetrator would have wanted. Would it not have been best just to keep it quiet and not stoke the fire. My guess would be that this probably wasn’t racial at all. Some kid on psychiatric meds for ADD, ADHD or whatever other big pharma promoted disorder of the day was probably thinking about leaving this world and making a statement while doing so. A possible catalyst, never ending bullying at the hands of the sizable element from Oakland/Richmond who prey on undersized freshmen boys thrown into that environment, socially unprepared, from a private K-8.